When I was a kid growing up in the mighty
Mid-Atlantic, you could tell who were wrestling fans very easy. Even if
they were not fans, they still did a Brute Bernard impression. I remember
working at Food World in the early seventies and I was unloading a truck.
This old truck driver guy suddenly breaks into the walk. He started to
move in a short circle and move his arms like a chicken. While he did
this, he said, "Oooo, Oooo, Ooo."

Then he stopped, looked skyward and yelled,
"OoooOOooo hhhh!"

That is the Brute Bernard Shuffle.

Then everyone in earshot would do the
same impression. And then everyone would then start laughing.

Before Flairs "Whooo", there
was the Brute. There was no one like him. When I first started watching
TV Wrestling Brute Bernard and Skull Murphy were the first team that really
stood out. Skull Murphy was a real intense interview that was the leader
and controlling force of this team. Brute Bernard was the animal that
stalked around ringside scaring everyone. And I mean scaring. Everyone
believed this guy was totally nuts and it pushed The Skulls to the top.

When Skull Murphy died, every fan was
worried about what would happen to the Brute. I know I thought about it
because Murphy was the controller of this mad beast.

Who would get him food?

How would he pay his bills?

As a single, would the chicks still dig
him?

The fans were told that Skull Murphy had
passed due to a heart attack. That was a believable explanation but he
really committed suicide.

(Why? Who really knows about that kind
of thing?)

Soon after, the Brute began to tag with
the Missouri Mauler. This was a good thing because even if they were the
bad guys at least the Brute had someone to care for him. These kind of
things really mattered when you were about ten years old.
The Mauler and Brute became big time main event wrestlers in the Mid-Atlantic.
One day on an interview, Charlie Harville asked the Mauler if he could
control this man. Said and I quote,

"What do you mean? If I had a son,
I would want him to be just like Brute Bernard!"

The camera then took a shot of the Brute
as he stood there drooling all over himself. It was a classic wrestling
moment that few will ever forget.

One night, the Brute was wrestling on
TV Number One Paul Jones. Brute had Jones in a front face lock and began
to scream in his own unusual way. As he held the hold, Brute began to
drool. It wasn't any old drool. This was a white, I got a bad cold kind
of drool and Paul Jones saw it coming! This was the most punishing time
consuming thing I ever remember watching. This snotty drool began to climb
out of Brutes mouth and began to fall down right at Paul Jones face! As
this thing got closer, you could see Paul Jones try to escape and get
away from this fate worse than death. But no dice, The Brute continued
to yell and drool until it ran right on Jones face. And man, Paul Jones
was not a happy camper.

Man, I got a ton of Brute Bernard stories.

And what ever happened to Brute Bernard?
Well he got dropped from Crockett because, well he was really too old
to continue wrestling. He then went to the independent wrestling scene.
Working around the Mid-Atlantic Territory picking up a match whenever
he could. There is one thing that I do know, Brute Bernard loved wrestling.
It was his life and really when you think about it what could a guy like
that do?

One night working for Johnny Hunter the
Brute snapped. The ref Dave Routh had no choice but to do a double count
out finish that was not planned. The Brute was fighting on the floor and
wouldn't get back in the ring. It was a mess and Routh did the right thing.
After the match, Brute ran back to the dressing room and hit Routh and
broke his nose. He was raising hell about being counted out and was totally
out of control. Hunter had no choice but to fire Brute Bernard on the
spot. When the reality sank in that Brute no longer had a job wrestling,
he broke down and started to cry.

A few months later, Brute Bernard went
hunting with a few green kids. Suddenly, Brute said, "Hey, you want
to really see something?"

Brute Bernard then raised his gun and
shot himself in the head. The guys that were there couldn't do a thing
to help him. They were too far away to get help there in time.